The Falling of a Star
by Daine Salamin
Summary: Faye decides to take fate into her own hands and shoots down Spike as he goes to battle Vicious for the last time. What will Spike do and how will he feel when he arrives to find the Syndicate in shambles?


**Author's Note: Hey Guys! I know I've been MIA for a while now, almost half a year, but I've been super busy with school. I had a little time over the Christmas holiday to work on some new stories, especially A New Dawn, which I hope to start posting sometime soon. I just wanted to go ahead and throw this little number out there which may or may not have a sequel, not sure yet. Anyway I don't own any character or the show Cowboy Bebop, this is all fiction based, so there's my disclaimer. Hope you guys enjoy and i look forward to seeing your comments!**

Faye's arm shook as she lowered her gun from above her head. She watched as the lunkhead walked away and she crumbled, her back hitting the wall hard as she slid to the floor. Tears ran freely from her eyes; she knew that Spike would not be returning from this battle. She heard the hatch open and the sound of Spike's Swordfish start up and launch. She sat there, shocked that he went when he knew he would die, shocked at what he had told her about his eyes and his way of life. He had been the one with a past he wanted to forget and she with a past she wanted to remember. He was a lazy lunkhead who acted like an ass most of the time while she was the aloof member of the team, running off when ever she wanted. Polar opposites and yet at the same time, she loved him. She knew that when she almost lost him to Vicious the first time she had been with the crew and had to bandage him up. She had learned about her past and now he had to forget his, but how could he when he was going to face it.

She stood determination set upon her features. Spike needed to forget and the only way was to eliminate the memory. "JET!" she cried.

"What?" he growled back as she ran into the bonsai room.

"If I don't come back, find Ed and tell her I was wrong about homes and…" she paused, "take care of Spike." She said softly as she turned and ran towards the carrier.

"Faye?" Jet yelled after her as she ran down the hall, "Where are you going?"

She paused, "To save the lunkhead." She replied. She turned to him her eyes filled with sadness and resolve, "It was nice to be a part of a family again, Jet." She smiled and ran to her ship.

Climbing in she typed in a code and a panel below her opened revealing an artillery of Glocks, M9's, hand grenades, cases of bullets, a tommy, and a few needle bombs. Glad to see everything still there she set her engines to Turbo and took off just as Jet reached the door to the hatch.

Her Redtail rattled hard as she zoomed through space into Mars' atmosphere. "Come on baby, hold together for me." She pleaded and the ship rattled harder.

Suddenly she saw his ship and readied her ship's gun. When she reached lock-on position she fired. He dodged, rolling away from her and shooting off some of his rounds. She quickly dodged and locked on with one of her torpedoes, shooting it without hesitation towards the wing.

"WHAT THE FUCK FAYE?" Spike growled as he maneuvered away once again. The torpedo turned with him, already locked on again, as she readied a second one, firing it before following, guns blazing.

"What are you doing?" he yelled dodging her attacks.

She didn't answer, focusing on her target. She came up behind him, raining down bullets and finally she succeeded in blowing up his right engine. She cut off the communicator as she circled his fallen ship. Once she saw he was all right she headed towards the Syndicate only a couple miles away. Having already used two of her torpedoes she only had two left. She locked on to the building, aiming for the lower part and fired.

The explosion knocked out the bottom five floor windows; smoke and fire engulfing the bottom. Taking aim again she fired towards the top. Suddenly a siren went off and her computer screen flashed that the torpedo was locked in its chamber.

"Oh! COME ON!" she screamed. "Useless piece of junk." She growled pulling up the self-destruct page and typing in five minutes. She took one and a half of those grabbing her artillery, another thirty seconds giving it directions to the roof after she hit autopilot, and another two to drop her off near the buildings' entrance and to hit autopilot.

Her Redtail took off and she looked at it sadly before grabbing a grenade and Glock and making her way in. The bottom floors were on fire and she quickly began making her way up the stairs. Suddenly a shot echoed through the air and the wall in front of her exploded as a bullet hit it. Seconds later an explosion from above rocked the whole building. Staggering she clutched the handrail, before running up to the third floor and taking down five people, before reaching the elevator. As she waited, more shots came and she fired. Jumping into the elevator as the doors opened and tossing a grenade. She heard the explosion; thankful the doors had protected her. She came to the next floor the doors dinging open to more men.

She shot out, throwing another bomb before closing the doors and taking a breath, her head leaning against the wall. Two more floors and it dinged again as the doors slid open. She looked out. It was too quiet compared to the last floors. She cautiously stepped out and raised her Glock. Suddenly a shot was heard and she ducked right, excruciating pain exploding from her left shoulder. Throwing a needle bomb she closed the elevator doors as she saw fifteen men appear from behind doors, furniture, and other things.

Gasping with pain she slid down the wall, holding her shoulder as she felt the blood run out of her. She looked up at the numbers as they went by. She was getting closer to the top, though the top two floors were staircase only, so really she was almost to the top.

She did a quick check of her inventory and stood, wincing as her vision darkened slightly. Ding! The doors opened and Faye glanced around and up at the empty and rubble area. Her red-tail had done a good job blowing up the top floor and the second. The roof of the floor she was on had a huge hole in which the only light came from. Faye took a step out and slipped into the shadows near the elevator, looking for any sign of life.

Suddenly a vulture cried from overhead and she turned, arm ready to shoot. She cried out as a hand grabbed her wrist and shoved her against the wall roughly. She coughed as she rebounded against it before another hand wrapped its claw-like fingers around her throat, cutting off her air. "You're not who I expected." A deep voice hissed as the fingers intensified their grip.

Faye coughed struggling for air, her legs kicking towards his chest, but all he did was move out of her reach. "Why are you here?" he asked, loosening his grip to let her speak.

Faye took in deep breaths trying to push her lightheadedness away when his grip once again returned and he used his elbow to press against her wounded shoulder. "I asked you a question."

"Can't…let…him…die." She bit out her vision darkening again.

Vicious stared at her, his dark crimson eyes reminding her of pools of blood. He sneered before a short chuckle was released from deep in his chest. "You love him." He laughed, his voice sounding manic.

He mercilessly dropped her, kicking her gun out of her hand as her body crumpled to the ground, gasping for air. Faye looked around for any weapon and went to grab a pipe when the tip of a sword pricked her throat. She looked up the length of the weapon into his blood red eyes, shivering, as they seemed to look through her. "He'll never love you. To him, everything is just a dream. That is until she died. That was the only way to wake him up."

"You mean Julia?" she asked, her voice hoarse.

He stiffened and his sword pressed a little harder into her, drawing blood. She felt the warm liquid slide down her throat to pool between her breasts before sliding further down her body. His eyes followed the droplets, a vicious sneer crawling across his face. "Yes, Julia. You know she was actually mine. I knew they had an attraction for each other, but I thought Spike was more of a friend to me than to sleep around with my girl." He paused his eyes lost in thought before sharpening back on her. "Obviously I was wrong."

"Why didn't you just let her go and be with him then." She asked. "Woulda saved you the trouble of killing them."

"BECAUSE SHE WAS MINE!" He roared. His sword wavering as he yelled. "I GAVE HER EVERYTHING! AND SHE WANTED HIM?!" Faye watched carefully for an opening as he ranted about Julia and Spike.

Suddenly Vicious' sword tipped away from her and she knocked it to the side before launching for her Glock. Grabbing it in one hand she cocked it and turned just as she felt a prick on her chest and he stood in front of her. They were at a standoff, her gun pressed against his head, and his sword pointed at her heart. She let her eyes glare icily at him as he chuckled once again.

"He will never love you," he murmured, "I don't understand why you are doing this, its all just a dream to him."

"I know he will never love me, but at least by killing you, he will finally be able to forget his past and move on." She grinned saucily, "And who knows, maybe the lunkhead will finally see how much I'm worth."

Vicious chuckled once again. "I think Miss Valentine, that we could have been friends if we'd met in different circumstances."

"Don't bet on it." She snapped just as she pulled the trigger and he moved forward.

The echo of a single bullet. The spray of crimson blood. And the falling of a star, ended the battle of the bounty hunter, Faye Valentine, and the Red Syndicate leader, Vicious. A battle ending just as Spike Spiegel arrived to see another woman die for him and his sworn enemy defeated by her hands. He watched as she fell, as if in slow motion. Her head shooting back as her back arched, the sword still embedded deep within her chest as her body collided with the ground. Her hair swirled around her; breaking free of the headband that kept it back, free to fall like a dark halo around her beautiful face.

Vicious was dead, his corpse lying in a pool of blood, a bullet wound through his head. Spike stood motionless as he stared at the two bodies before him, before slowly stumbling towards Faye. He dropped to his knees beside her, pushing back a lock of her hair before cupping her cheek and turning it towards him. "Come on Romany, wake up." He murmured, wiping the small trail of blood from the corner of her lip. She didn't stir as he proceeded to pull the sword from her body, tossing it aside before putting pressure on her wound and wrapping it with cloth from the shredded curtains, hanging around the blown up building.

Sunlight drifted in through the crumbling ceiling to shine down upon Faye, as if the heavens were opening the doorway for her and Spike looked at her his heart clenching and eyes pricking as he lifted her into his arms. "You should never have come here Romany. This was my mission, my dream to end, my star to fall," he cradled her head once again on his shoulder, brushing his thumb across her cheek, "not yours." He said hoarsely.

His head fell to her chest as tears gathered at the corners of his eyes and began to slide down his cheeks, dripping onto her chest and yellow shirt. He chuckled softly. "You're so stupid," he said fiercely, "I don't know why I'm feeling like this. You act like a bitch, you're crass, you dress like a slut, you steal my cigs, you eat my food, you spend my money, take up all the hot water in the shower, screw up my bounty's, get in my way, sing off key. You're such a burden."

He sighed shakily before raising his head up to the sky. "And yet, you cared for me when I was a mangled mess. You showed me you were a tough chick who could catch bounties on her own, you shared when you could, you showed your nice side every once and a while, you loved me when I loved another and even had the guts to relay a message from her to me when you didn't have to. You took out my enemy and me before I even had a chance to react. And to be honest, I wanted to see more of that girl from the tape we watched. Because I think I fell in love with her smile and those beautiful green eyes." He smiled sadly, his eyes closing in sorrow.

The sunlight above him faded out as a cloud passed overhead and he breathed in a shaky breath before dropping his head once again, his eyes still closed. "Maybe I can be that girl again," came a soft whisper, "I've died, I can be whoever I want to be."

Spike looked into emerald eyes in shock as Faye smiled up at him, her hand reaching up to cup his jaw. "Do you think you can handle the change?" she smiled, not one of her sarcastic smirks but one reminiscent of the girl she once was and only showed glimpses of rarely; her eyes full of warmth and love. Spike felt his heart beat hard as he shakily cupped her face as well.

"I think I can manage, as long as the Romany can still be in there somewhere." He smiled his voice hoarse with emotion.

"I think I can handle that gaucho." She murmured back before pulling his lips down to hers.


End file.
